Well would you look at that - it's the gall of the Rose Root Gall Wasp (Diplolepis radicum). Despite their size and color these galls are hard to find given their position low on the stem and often covered by woodland detritus.

I've been on the look out for these for a few years now and, thanks to whoever mowed along the railroad tracks, a few galls were readily visible. Made a nice unexpected find.

Manitoba, Canada

#Gall #galls #Diplolepis #wasp #wasps #insect #GallWasp #Manitoba

#InverteFest day 5 brings us to one of my favorite phenonmena: galls.

Galls are essentially novel organs a plant is induced to grow by the galling organism. Many different types of invertebrates induce galls on plants, and often each organism induces specific types of galls only on specific parts of specific species. So much so that you can often determine the inducer by its gall and the host plant!

The biology and ecology of galls is endlessly fascinating but in the spirit of 140 characters I'll stop and leave you with galls of the Spiny Leaf Gall Wasp (Diplolepis polita) on a wild rose. Inside these beauties are the little baby gall wasps...or other baby wasps that are eating the baby gall wasps...or other baby wasps that are eating the baby wasps that are eating the baby gall wasps...it's a wasp eat wasp world out there.

#InverteFest2022 #Cynipidae #Diplolepis #gall #galls #wasp #Hymenoptera #FaunaOfManitoba #parasitoid #hyperparasitoid